Dr. Cheng has produced a very well written and thoughtful analysis of the quest in China for the proper balance between the need for revenue (which has led the government to implement a meaningful tuition fee) and the imperative for enhancing access to higher education. She does this primarily through an analysis and her own empirical study of the Chinese ... Read moreexperiments with student loan programs. The balance is complex: in no small measure due to the complexity of student loans and the difficulty of analyzing student college-going and college-completion behavior. Dr. Cheng incorporates valuable comparisons with the Australian and US student loan schemes, and incorporates a powerful analysis of the differences between Western and Asian concepts of social justice.
Bruce Johnstone, SUNY This volume adds significantly to the literature on educational finance in China. As the largest higher educational system in the world, how the Chinese approach issues such as equity and access, affordability of higher education and the tension between public and private goods will greatly inform others in the region facing similar challenges. Professor Cheng's book should be read by those in Chinese studies and educational policy alike.
John Hawkins, Professor Emeritus, Director, Center for International and Development Education (CIDE), UCLA Baoyan Cheng has written a highly novel, extremely readable and very engaging book. A very welcome addition to the growing comparative literature on student loans schemes world wide, it will be read widely by academics and practitioners in the field. But this book is much more than a fine technical appraisal of, and justification for, the largest student loans scheme in China, examined within a comparative global context. Adopting a "multi-perspective approach" and through a mixture of case studies, personal histories and a careful use of available data sources, the author opens a portal on many other aspects of higher education in China. Thus we are provided with an insightful discussion of differences in Western and Chinese concepts of equality and we learn at first hand of the severity of financial hardship faced by many students in China and of the severe constraints (not only financial) mitigating against access of the poor to higher education. I judge that this book will become a classic reference in the field.
Adrian Ziderman, Editor of International Journal of Manpower Cheng’s book is a compelling academic monograph concerning China’s student financial aid system. It makes a significant and original contribution to the field. It also outlines topics for more focused research, such as the long-term effects of the GSSLP, the effect of the GSSLP on access to college, and how students’ attitude towards loans and debts influence their borrowing behavior and life choices. In addition, through reading this book one also senses Cheng’s compassion for disadvantaged people. This research will play a very important role in helping the Chinese government improve its student loans schemes. More broadly, it may be instructive to researchers studying other developing countries facing similar social problems.
The China Journal
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